


Waiting For You

by Estrea



Series: Altverse SayaDuu [2]
Category: Hello! Project, Morning Musume.
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 07:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estrea/pseuds/Estrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the same universe as Beyond the Curtain. After the fallout, how do the pieces fall back into place again?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting For You

It was one of those rare moments they got to be alone together.

Always, there was someone else around. Be it the hyperactive Maa-chan, aka Sato Masaki, who was almost always latched onto Kuduu, her favourite playmate, or the rest of the members would be around, one way or another.

And then, of course, there was _her_. The one person they had tacitly agreed to not hurt any further by keeping a judicious distance from each other when everyone else was around. They understood that they couldn't rock the balance of the group, not at any cost. In any case, it was enough, at least for now, to know how the other felt.

They could live with that. They smiled at each other as they always would, and sometimes, in a crowded elevator, their fingers would brush each other's lightly as the members jostled noisily in the confined space. Neither said anything, but contented smiles lit their faces softly in those brief moments.

It was difficult, sometimes. Particularly since Riho always got paired with Ayumi for work. It had been awkward again at first, since they had been getting along better before the fallout from that incident, and repairing that relation was going to be a delicate affair. It helped that Riho and Kuduu continued keeping a friendly distance in front of everyone, and Kuduu, out of necessity, continued being nice to Ayumi as always. She did, however, spend more time with Maa-chan recently, since it was the safe alternative. Riho spent her time with the rest of 9th gen and the newbie Sakura, and life went on as it always did.

"Hey." Kuduu said softly, her voice husky as always. Well, it had been getting a little higher pitched of late, leading to the tomboy complaining that it detracted from her image, to the amusement of the other members. Privately, Riho thought it was a good thing. Not that she had any problem with Kuduu's boyish look, but it would be nice to see the girl look, well, girly sometimes.

"Hey yourself." Riho smiled back. They were alone in the dressing room, an uncommon occurence. As it happened, everyone else was off doing one thing or another, since shooting was being held simultaneously. Riho had been done first, and had already changed back to her own clothes in the meantime when Kuduu walked in, still in her performing outfit. Both had started involuntarily on seeing each other, before glancing around out of habit. They were alone, and when Kuduu closed the door behind her, that was only when their faces relaxed into affectionate grins at each other.

"Leaving already?" Kuduu inclined her head over at Riho's half-packed bag. The tomboy hopped casually onto a table top next to Riho, swinging her legs idly as she watched the older girl gather her things together.

"Yeah, I have a Peaberry event later." Even alone, they kept a small distance between each other, easy to move away in case anyone burst in -- given that a certain Sato Masaki had a proven tendency to run full tilt into any given space, their caution was probably fully justified. Still, they were a lot closer to each other than when there were others around.

Riho rooted around her bag briefly before producing her curling tongs, sitting down by a mirror and starting to work on her hair again. She hadn't actually planned to do her hair now, since she could always do it later before the actual event started, but Riho knew she just wanted a little extra time to spend together with Kuduu, and needed an excuse for it. Plus, she was ahead of schedule anyway, so she didn't have to leave immediately.

Even now, they were not upfront about the reasons they made up to spend time around each other. At least they both knew they _wanted_ to spend time around each other, so Kuduu had a toothy grin on the moment she saw Riho sit back down with the curling tong in hand.

They remained in a companionable silence for several moments, Riho working on her hair while sneaking glances at Kuduu through the mirror, while Kuduu ditched all pretenses and simply admired the girl openly. As Riho shook out her hair and combed through the strands with her fingers, she was suddenly startled when Kuduu reached out and took the ends of her hair between her fingers.

"I love your hair. It's so soft..." Kuduu murmured, eyes twinkling as she rubbed the soft strands together. Riho pinked as Kuduu leaned in close, her lips ghosting against the top of Riho's head in a fleeting gesture. The 'boy' of the group leaned back out and grinned impudently at the rosy blush on the older girl's cheeks. Riho tossed a glare of mock annoyance up at her tormentor, but the shy smile never quite left her lips.

"You're so cute, Sayashi-san." Kuduu teased, though there was a note of seriousness as she looked down at the older girl with genuine fondness. Riho rolled her eyes at the blatant compliment, though another smile tugged at her lips. Kuduu was inexplicably drawn by those lips as Riho returned her attention back to the mirror and the business of her hair, pouting in concentration as her teeth worried at her lower lip.

Their first kiss, back at the karaoke place, before they had even been aware of their true feelings for each other, had been ages ago. Back then, Kuduu had given in to impulse and kissed the Sayashi-san in her arms. It had been a crazy thing to do when she hadn't even been sure if her senpai liked her back, but Kuduu hadn't been able to stop herself with Riho looking up at her with such vulnerable eyes. A surge of emotion filled her chest, filling her with warmth.

Sometimes it felt like she was going to burst, just looking at the Sayashi-san sitting so close, yet so far. All she wanted to do was to hold her, to bury her face into that glorious hair, to always be by her side, supporting her. To see that side of Sayashi-san that no one else had been able to see. Kuduu had seen a couple of expressions that she was confident Sayashi-san had never displayed to anyone else, and was eager to discover more. The older girl was full of mystery, even when she was not trying to be, and Kuduu often found it hard to get a read on the girl. If Sayashi-san had not confessed her feelings that day...Kuduu shivered. She would never have known. And without knowing, she would simply have...

"Duu, are you alright?" Riho was looking up at her in concern, A slight frown creased the ace's forehead, and her nose was crinkled with worry. Kuduu had to grip the edge of the table tightly to keep herself from leaning down to kiss the expression away. Not that Riho would have minded, she knew, but there was always the concern...Kuduu grimaced, turning her head away. It was too hard, having to stay away from the one you love, especially when you knew that they loved you back.

"I'm sorry." Riho said suddenly, placing her hand on top of Kuduu's. The touch felt like a jolt of electricity, as always. "I'm not being fair to you..."

"It's ok." Kuduu mumbled, sliding off the table and turning her back on Riho, though she left her hand where it was. She _wanted_ to be as mature as Sayashi-san was, but it was _really_ hard. Their brief conversation after the fallout that day had ended with Riho asking her to wait, to give them time. It had been a reasonable consideration, since Ayumi's grief weighed on both of them heavily still. It was a delicate issue, the subject of Ayumi's feelings. At the end of the day, they were all still in the same group, and they really couldn't afford to destabilize everyone because of their personal problems. Riho was too professional to let it happen, and Kuduu loved Morning Musume too much to wreck the group dynamic because of her own desires. So they carefully kept their distance from each other, out of consideration to Ayumi, and Riho kept trying her best to make it up to the girl without being too obvious about it. Or giving Kuduu up to her. That was one thing she wouldn't do, although she did feel a little envious whenever Kuduu allowed Ayumi to hang all over her -- it was part of their agreement, but that didn't mean it felt good to see it in any case. Kuduu always shot her pained glances whenever it happened, and apologetic texts always followed not long after, since they couldn't openly talk about it.

It helped a little that Ayumi herself was beginning to try and find a suitable distance between herself and Kuduu. Perhaps Kuduu always hanging around Maa-chan helped a little too. It made a perverse kind of sense, Riho surmised, to see the youngest two pair up. Riho didn't feel particularly threatened by them together, and was conversely quite grateful for the way Maa-chan hauled Kuduu all over the place -- and thus away from Ayumi -- and Maa-chan's tendency to tackle-hug Riho whenever she saw her was a convenient excuse for Kuduu, who was usually with her, to do the same.

All they had were stolen moments, and it was barely enough. Riho worried at her lower lip again at the torn expression on Kuduu's face she had seen on the girl's face. It was hard for her too! Even though Riho was good at keeping her distance and generally remaining aloof, sometimes all she wanted was to snuggle up to the one she loved and not worry about anything else. But she couldn't, not openly, and it killed her a little inside sometimes.

They were still alone, and Riho decided to take a small risk for once. Rising to her feet, she came around to face the downcast Kuduu. The boots Kuduu was wearing for their new single added inches to her height, and Riho had to tiptoe up to press an unexpected kiss on the corner of the girl's mouth. Kuduu's eyes widened, but Riho had already retreated, her face flaming at her own boldness, though a smug little grin played on her lips.

The next moment Riho found herself tugged off balance, and ended up falling into Kuduu's arms. The 'boy' of the group was beaming again, and Riho squealed softly as she was lifted off her feet and twirled around for a bit. Both girls were smiling openly now, and Kuduu nuzzled down the side of Riho's head, inhaling deeply.

"I missed you, Sayashi-san." The girl slid further down, pressing a kiss into Riho's neck, at her pulse point, making the older girl shiver.

"I wish we could always be like this..."

"I'm sorry to make you wait..." Riho started to apologize again, but was cut off as Kuduu lifted her head and pressed another kiss to her nose.

"It's ok. Haru will wait for you. You're worth waiting for."

Riho ducked her head shyly, blushing, she was sure, to the roots of her hair. Kuduu chuckled softly, murmuring another "you're cute" as she ran her fingers through the older girl's hair. On impulse, she removed the cap she was still wearing from the shoot and placed it on Riho's head, arranging it at a jaunty angle. Riho looked up, confused, one hand reaching up to touch the unfamiliar weight. Kuduu beamed, admiring her own cap on her loved one's head.

"You look good. It suits you."

Riho blinked, turning to glance at a mirror. She didn't particularly like hats...actually, she never wore one outside of work, and only when she absolutely had to. Back during the Renai Hunter video, she had deliberately ditched her own visor-cap for the dance shot, leading to a huge scolding when they had to reshoot the dance scene again. It had totally been worth the scolding though, since in the end they couldn't find the missing cap anyway, and reluctantly adjusted for its lack. The truth was, Riho was secretly convinced that hats didn't suit her, so she avoided them like the plague. She stared at her capped reflection disbelievingly for a moment, then asked.

"You really think so?"

Kuduu's expression softened at the look of uncertainty on Riho's face. Stepping up close, the younger girl adjusted the cap with a professional air, before stepping back with a satisfied grin.

"Definitely. You look adorable." _With my cap_ , Kuduu thought with a touch of possessive smugness. Riho smiled slowly, inspecting her reflection again. Kuduu wanted to sweep the smaller girl away into a hug again, but the sound of the door opening forced her to step away quickly.

"Duu! You were here!" Maa-chan's excited voice plunged through the open door, and the ball of hyperactive energy that was catapulted herself at her favourite playmate.

"Sayashi-san too~!" Put in perspective, it was quite an impressive feat for the girl to initiate a group hug without even stopping to regain her balance from the flying tackle in the first place. Riho and Kuduu shared a familiar eye roll at the bundle of happiness that was Sato Masaki, before Kuduu fell back to her usual routine and started roughhousing with Maa-chan. Boisterous laughter filled the room, and Riho leaned back against the table, watching contentedly.

Maa-chan skidded to a stop in front of Riho. She cocked her head to one side like a spaniel pleading for a bone, then clapped her hands together.

"Ah, Duu's cap! Maa wants to try it too!"

Masaki snagged the cap off Riho's head without any warning, putting it on her own head as Kuduu pretended to roar with indignation, proceeding to chase the laughing Masaki around the room. Riho was laughing at their antics when the rest of the group poured in, amused grins on their faces as they had heard the ruckus from down the hallway.

"Riho-chan? You're still here? I thought you had to leave early for an event?" Kanon said upon seeing Riho still in the room. Riho jumped, one hand flying to her face.

"Oh no! I'll be late!"

"Isn't that always the case, Riho?" Eripon, aka Ikuta Erina, laughed.

Riho stuck her tongue out at her laughing generation-mates and stuffed the rest of her things back into her bag. Hurriedly bidding everyone farewell, she bolted out of the door, but not before catching the eye of Kuduu briefly as she exited, and the younger girl flashed a quick thumbs up at her before going back to play with Maa-chan.

Riho smiled to herself as she ran helter-skelter to the train station. Things weren't perfect, but they weren't so bad either. She could live with that.

For she knew, at the end of the road, someone was waiting for her. Always.


End file.
